Soap-cutting apparatus



May 27, 1930. J. A. SCHWANTES SOAP CUTTING APPARATUS Filed Oct. '13, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet "'1 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS J. A. SCHWANTES SOAP CUTTING APPARATUS MWI INVENTOR. I a

A TTORNEYS May 27, 1930. J. A. SCHWANTES SOAP CUTT ING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed ad. 15, 1928 v INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS May 27, 1930. JQA, sc s 1 I 1,760,087

' SOAP CUTTING APPARATUS Filed ot. 15, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

BY WQISM wwm " A TTORNEYJ' Patented May 27, 1 930 uurrsu STATE-S. PATENT OFFICE JULIUS A. SCHWANTES, OF WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR 'lO OOLGATE-PALM- OLIVE-FEET COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE SOAP-CUTTING APPARATUS Application filed October 13, 1928. SerialNo. 312,294.

The invention relates to soap manufacture and more particularly to apparatus for cutting soap into cakes and the handling of the same.

In the type of cutting apparatus herein described each of a series of long bars of soap is cut into a plurality of cakes and discharged onto a conveyor from which the cakes are removed and placed on conveyors or other mechanism by which the soap is taken to the labelling and packaging machinery. One operator feeds the soap to the apparatusand controls the cutting mechanism while another operator removes the soap from the machine and controls its delivery mechanism. In order that both operators may perform their tasks efficiently and not interfere with the others control of the machine, the object of the present invention is to provide interlocking mechanism whereby one operators control is locked out while the others control is in use, and more particularly to provide such interlocking mechanism associated with a step-by-step control of the conveyor mechanism whereby the conveyor mechanism is given a plural step movement by the operator controlling it before the operator controlling the cutting mechanism can operate the machine.

The invention further consists in the several features hereinafter set forth and more particularly defined by claims at the conclusion hereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of an apparatus embodying the invention, parts being broken away; v Z

Fig. 2 is an end elevat'on View of, the apparatus, parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus;

Fig. 4 is a detail view, partly in section, showing the clutch control mechanism of the machine; 1

Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation view showing the clutch control and look-out for one of the operators;

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of one of the clutch mechanisms taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the clutchpin controls, parts being shown in section;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of one of the locking latches.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates the frame of the machine upon which is mounted a soap barsupporting table 11. A pusher bar 12, provided with spaced heads 13, reciprocates over said table and feeds the long soap bars, placed on the table by one of the operators between said heads and the cutter frame14, against and past the spaced cutting wires mounted in the cutter frame and which pass between the heads 13, and delivers them as cut cakes, in a series, upon a conveyor 16 by which they are carried to one side of the machine where the ly are removed by another operator.

he pusher bar 12 is pivotally connected to a link or lever 17 at 18, which link is pivotally connected to a pivoted crank arm 19 pivotally supported at 20, see Fig. 1. A link 21 operatively connects the link 17 with a drivendisk 22 on a shaft 23. Referring to Fig. 4, the shaft 23 has a gear 24 loosely mounted thereon adapted to be connected to drive the same by the use of a one revolution pin clutch mechanism. This pin clutch mechanism may be of any suitable or well known construction and, as shown, includes a casing 25 provided with a recess 26 in which a clutch pin 27 is slidably mounted andadapted to engage in one of a series of clutch recesses steel blocks 28 set into the hub of the said gear. The clutch pin is normally held out of operative engagement with the gear by means of a pivoted pawl 29" of the pin and held in engagement by meansincluding a spring 30, see Fig; 6, and pulled out by a pull link 31. On the release of the pawl 29 from engagement with the pin 27a spring 32 moves said pin into one of the recesses 28. The gear 24 is constantly rotated by an electric motor 33 whose drive shaft is connected to a shaft 34 connected by suitable speed reducing mechanism 35 to a shaft 36 carrying agear 37 which meshes with the gear 24. The crank disk 22 makes'only one revolution, due to thefact that clutch pin 27 is disengaged during one revolution by the 29 engageable with a notch clutch brake 38 moved outwardly by a cam 25 on the casing 25 and pulling the pawl 29 back into position directly after the release of the pawl, which causes the inclined surface 29 of said pawl to be in a position to pull back the pin 27 as soon as the shaft 23 has made one revolution. One revolution pin clutch mechanisms of the type above described are old and wellknown so that fur ther description thereof is deemed unnecessar l he pull link 31 extends back through an arm 39 to which it is yieldingly connected by a spring 40. The arm 39 has a treadle 41 integral with it and is connected to a pivot shaft 41 which has another treadle 42 connected to it. Theupper treadle 41 is used by the operator in a sitting position, while the lower treadle 42 is used when the operator is standing. A spring 42 urges the treadle to a release position." 1

The conveyor 16 includes a pair of spaced chains 43 running over spaced sprockets 44 (one being shownin Fig, 1) on shaft 45 journalled in bearings 45 in the frame and over spaced sprockets 46 on an idler shaft 47 journalled in adjustable take-up bearings 48 mountedon the frame and over flanged rollers 49. on a shaft 50. The shaft 44 is driven from the shaft 34 by a sprocket 51 having a one rotation pin clutch connection 52 with said shaft and connected by a chain 53 with a sprocket 54 on the shaft 44. The conveyor is made up of a number of spaced sections, each section including a plurality of bars 55 suitably carried by the chains 43. The pin clutch connection 52 is similar to the one previously described, the casing 56 having a cam lug 57 thereon engageable with the brake pivoted lever 58 which is connected by a link 9 and spring 60 to' the clutch pin release pawl or lever 61 pivoted at 62,.see Fig. 5, said pawl acting on clutch pins 61 similar to the clutch pins 27. This lever is under the control of the operator at the delivery end of the machine by a pull link 63 which is connected to a latch having a rod portion 70' slidablymounted in a pivot block 71 on an arm 64 and yieldingly connected thereto by a spring 65. treadle-operated shaft 66 with which an upper treadle 67 and 'a lower treadle 68 are connected for the purposes previously described in connection with the first operators control, a spring 67 urging the treadle to re lease position. When the clutch collar 69 has made one revolution the conveyor, through the sprocket and chain connection, has travelled the distance equal to one-half of one section and again comes to rest until the operator at the delivery end of the machine again releases the pawl 61.

It will now be seen that the operator at the feeding end of the machine puts the cutting mechanism in operation by depressing either The arm 64 is connected to a one of the clutch pedals 41 or 42 to actuate link 21 and pawl 29 to throw in the pin clutch mechanism to cause shaft 23 to make one revolution and hence one complete reciprocation of the pusher bar 12 and that the operator at the delivery end of the machine puts the conveyor into operation by depressing either of the clutch pedals 67 or 68 to actuate the link 63 and pawl 61 to throw in the pin clutch mechanism 52 to cause the sprocket 51 to make one revolution and hence the shaft 45, through the sprocket reduction, to make a quarter of a revolution and advance the conveyor one-half the length of one section.

To prevent either operator from putting the mechanism under his control in operation before the other operators mechanism hasfinished its operations, interlocking mechanisms are provided, as hereinafter described. The clutch shifting lever or member 64 has a latch 7 O pivoted to its upper end at 71 and urged by a spring 71 to engage a keeper 72 fixed to the frame of the machine, see Figs. 2 and 5. This latch is connected by a link 7 3 isposed outside the conveyor to a shaft extending inside the conveyor carrying a roller 74 and mounted on a swinging crank 7 5'pivoted on the shaft 50. While the conveyor is in operation the roller 74 is supported on the top side of one of the sections of the lower run of the conveyor and keeps the latch 70 from engaging the keeper or bar 72 and consequently the pedals 67 and 68 will not be locked against operation by the operator controlling the delivery end of the machine, but as soon as the conveyor has moved the length of one section by a half revolution of the shaft 45, by two movements of the operators pedal 67 or 68, the roller 74 will drop down into the space 76 between the sections and allow the latch 70 to engage the keeper 72 and lock the pedals against further operation until the feeding operator has accomplished his task and in doing so has reset the roller 74. The feeding operator accomplishes this through the movement of the link 21- which carries a dog or lug 77 that, on the oscillatory movement of the link 21, raises the latch 70 from its keeper and brings the roller 74 up through the space of the conveyor sections so that it may ride on the next section untilthe next progressive movements of the conveyor, under the control of the operator at the delivery end of the machine, are made. Thus the dog 77 associated with the latch 7 O and roller 74 preventsmore than two movements of the conveyor by the delivery operator and prevents his operating his controls until the feeding operator has completed a single feed ing and cutting operation.

A hooked lever 78, pivotally mounted on a pin 79, is urged by a spring 80 into the path of movement of either one of a pair of-diametrlcally disposed pins81 carried between the sprocket 54 and a disk 82/ The pin 79 is mounted in a block 7 8 which is connected to an arm 7 9 secured to the shaft 41 and forming part of the treadle lever. Thus, the lever 78 has a reciprocating and pivotal movement. This lever 78, during the time the conveyor is in motion, is in the path of a hooked or latch portion 83 of the link 31 and consequently the feeding operator cannot move his pedal 41 or 42 to move the link 31 to start the disk 22 rotating until the conveyor has made a half revolution, at which time one of the pins 81 has shifted the lever 78 to a position free of the hooked portion 83 so that the feeding operator can then move the link 31 controlling the drive of the shaft 23. Thus the link 31 and the lever 7 8 prevent the operation of the cutting mechanism until the delivery operator has completed two movements of the conveyor.

As shown, each conveyor section comprises six bars 55 Whose width is sufficient to take care of all the soap bars moved by the pusher frame 12 onto said section and by using two successive feeding movements for each section the operator at the delivery end of the machine adjacent belts 84 and 84 can readily slide or move the cakes on the first three bars 55 either onto a conveyor belt 84, running in one direction, or a conveyor belt 84 running in the opposite direction, the cakes being moved onto these belts a row at a time and being carried thereby to the machines, if used, for embossing the design or other marks on the cake and from thence to the packaging machine.

The Waste from cutting drops down through the spaces between the conveyor sections into a hopper 85 which directs the waste soap on a belt 86 that projects out from the side of the machine and is mounted on rollers or pulleys 87 and 88, the shaft for the pulley 88 carrying a sprocket 89 connected by a chain 90 with a sprocket 91 on an idler shaft 92 which carries another sprocket 93 connected by a chain 94 to a sprocket 95 on the shaft 28.

his drive and the sprockets for the conveyor drive have not been shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 in order to avoid confusion.

I desire it to be understood that this in v'ention is not to be limited to any particular arrangement or construction of parts except in so far as such limitations are included in the claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination with the cutting mechanism for cutting soap bars into cakes and a delivery mechanism for receiving the out cakes, of means under the control of an operator at the feeding end of the machine for controlling the cutting mechanism, means under the control of an operator at the delivery end of the machine for controlling the delivery mechanism, and an interlock for said means preventing one operator operating his controls while the other operators control means is operative.

2. In a machine of the character described,

theother operators control means is operative and permitting the delivery operator to operate his control successively before the operator at the feeding end 'ofthe machine I can operate his control.

3. In a machine of the character described,

the combination of cutting mechanism in-- cluding a soap bar feeder and feeder operat ing means including a one revolution clutch mechanism, a delivery mechanism including a conveyor and drive means therefor includmg a one revolution clutch, control means controlled by one operator for operating said first named clutch, control means controlled by another operator for operating said second named clutch, means for locking the first named control means during successive operationsof the second named clutch, and means.

for locking the second named control means during a'single operation of the first named clutch; i

4. In a machine of the character described,

the combination of cutter feeding and soap cake delivering mechanisms, of separate controls for said mechanisms by separate operators, and locking'means for each control, the locking means for the cutter feeding mechanism 'being rendered operative during the movement of the delivery mechanism, the

locking means for the delivery mechanism being rendered operative on the movement of the delivery mechanism through a predetermined distance.

5."In a machine of the character described, the combination of "cuttingmechanism including a soap bar feeder and feeder operating means including a one revolution clutch mechanism, a delivery mechanism including a conveyor and drive means therefor including a one revolution clutch, control means controlled by one operator for operating said first named clutch, control means controlled by another operator for operating said second named clutch, latch means locking the first named control means during successive movements of the conveyor on successive operations of said second named clutch, means associated with the conveyor for releasing said latch at the end of said successive movements, latch means for locking the second named control means during a one cycle movement of said feeder on a single operation of said first named clutch, means associated With said conveyor for rendering said second named latch means operative, and means associated with said cutting mechanism for releasing said second named latch means.

6, In a machine of the character described, the combination of cutting mechanism including a soap bar feeder and feeder operating means including a one revolution clutch, a delivery mechanism including a conveyor and drive means therefor including a one revolution clutch, separate control means for said clutches,locking means for said clutches associated With said control means and delivery mechanism for permitting successive operations of said clutch controlling the delivery mechanism by one of said control means While preventing the operation of the control for the other clutch and for permitting operation of the clutch for the feeder operating means by its control means While preventing the operation of the control for delivery mechanism.

7 In a machine of the character described, the combination of cutting mechanism including a soap bar feeder and feeder operating means including a one revolution'clutch, a delivery mechanism includinga conveyor having spaced soap supporting sections and drive means therefor including a one revolution clutch, separate control means for said clutches, locking means for the delivery mechanism clutch including a latch associated with the clutch control for said mechanism, means movable between the spaces of said conveyor sections and associated with said conveyor for rendering said latch operative after a predetermined movement of said conveyor, and means associated with said Y feeder operating means to control said latch,

locking means for the feeder operating means including a latch associated with the clutch control for said mechanism, and means asso-,

ciatcd With the conveyor for rendering said latch inoperative after the predetermined movement of the conveyor.

In'testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JULIUS A. SCHWANTES. 

